Today is the Autumn Equinox – the season turns. For people in some parts of the world the prospect looms of more extreme weather in the shape of stronger-than-ever hurricanes. As I write, Hurricane Fiona, the first major storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, has brought devastation to Puerto Rico with half-a-metre of rain and gusts of up to 200 kph. It is continuing to strengthen and is heading as far north as eastern Canada.
This week has been Climate Week in New York coinciding with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. Last Sunday we observed Climate Sunday at All Saints Church when Rev’d Hannah Higginson’s sermon reinforced the call for us all to wake up to the urgent need to take action to reduce global warming. Listen again here.
This coming Sunday we keep the focus on the climate emergency with a Vigil for the Climate in The Cornerstone at 6.30pm. For more news about what we are doing as a church about the climate emergency visit our Climate Matters webpage; follow our Climate Matters at All Saints Instagram feed, see our Climate Matters pages in the All Saints parish magazine or talk to our Climate Matters Action Group, led by Hannah.
In the 9.30am morning service we welcome as a guest speaker Rosemary Croft from St John and St Stephen’s Church in Readings. She will be sharing with us the experience of her church in becoming an recognised eco-church. All Saints achieved eco-congregation status under an earlier scheme in the 00s but our certification has since lapsed and the scheme has been updated, so we are looking at restarting the journey to becoming a validated eco-church once again.
Canon David Hodgson